What’s Important in Economy for IAS Prelims

Economy is a very important topic not just for IAS Prelims but for Mains, Interview as well. Also as a civil servant you are expected to remain up-to-date with relevant economic indicators and trends in order to frame effective policies. For this reason you should never ignore Economy questions in Paper 1 that can vary from 10-20 each year. In this prelims preparation post I list the topics/sub-topics that your should focus most on when preparing economy for Prelims and also the important economic data that you should know to score well in the economy questions. But that’s not all. At the end of this post, I also list the books that you should refer for economy from Prelims and IAS Mains perspective.

Analysis of Questions asked on Indian Economy

From a quick glance at TMH GS Manual, I prepared the following table that lists the topic-wise economy questions asked in Prelims from 2007 till 2012. Of course some questions are multi-disciplinary that can be classified in other topics as well like Geography, Current Affairs etc. But this is a good guide for us to know which economy topics to focus more as compared to others.

From the above table it’s clear that questions from two topics, Agriculture and Money & Banking, were asked almost every year from 2007 to 2012; and most in 2010 Prelims. It follows that you should focus more on these 2 topics or at least get them up in your economy priority list. Now let’s know what to prepare in these two topics.

Agriculture

Land Reforms

Green Revolution and Second Green Revolution

Minimum Support Prices (MSP), Procurement prices, Issue price (important. who decides the MSP, the current MSP for principal crops etc)

Buffer Stock (norms, current data)

Economic Cost of Foodgrains

Decentralised Procurement Scheme

Rising Food Subsidy

National Flood Security Bill

Agricultural Marketing

e-choupal

Trifed

Nafed

Storing facilities for Agriculture Products (role of FCI, CWC and other central and state agencies)

Agricultural Credit (linked to farmer suicides in many states)

Commodity Futures Market

Farm Waste Debate

Irrigation

National Food Security Mission (NFSM) and other Missions like National Bamboo Mission, National Horticulture Mission etc.

Macro Management of Agriculture (MMA)

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)

National Agricultural Policy, 2000 (should know the important points at all times)

Agricultural Insurance

Extension Services

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)

WTO and the Indian Agriculture: Prospects and Challenges (also relevant for Mains)

Inflation

Indian Tax Structure

Methods of Taxation

Methods of Expenditure

Value Added Tax (and need of VAT)

Goods and Services Tax

Additional Excise Duty

CST Reforms

Service Tax

Tax Expenditure

Non-Tax Revenue

The above list might seem very long to some, but it is comprehensive in scope. Some of the topics above are required to be covered in-depth while some require reasonable acquaintance. Also questions on some of the topics listed above like external trade and assistance, planning, taxation, poverty and sustainable development are frequently asked in the GS Mains paper as well. Covering the topics listed above keeping in mind the relative importance with the help of the table will help you gain 15-20 valuable marks in the Prelims. And studying economy is fun as well. The question difficulty level is such that candidates with non-Economy background can answer the questions with ease. UPSC usually never asks questions based on economic theories in Prelims or Mains GS paper that are discipline-specific.

Books to refer for Prelims Economy Questions

As listed in books for IAS prelims, I recommend TMH Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh for covering economy syllabus for paper 1. The syllabus coverage in this book is complete; in fact so complete that I have used this book as a reference for listing various sub-topics above to focus on when preparing Economy for Prelims.

Another book that is a must read is Economic Survey published my Oxford University Press on behalf of the Finance Ministry. Being the authentic government source for all economic data it is highly useful not just for Prelims but also for Mains. In fact questions are directly asked in the Mains quoting the Economic Survey. It comes out usually in the last week of January or first week of February every year before the budget presentation. The second part of Economic Survey contains the latest economic data and tables some of which are must-read for Prelims.

I hope you found this guide on preparing economy for Prelims useful; I will be glad to read your responses in the comments below.

Also Read:

IAS Kracker

IAS Kracker is your friend, mentor and guide to help you crack the IAS exam. We have been guiding hundreds of IAS Aspirants since 2009 to help realize their dream of cracking the IAS exam. Know more about us.

the second part of economy survey contains the latest economy data and tables some of which are must read for prelims. this sentence we not understand especialy the second part of economy survey please help

Sir i never studied even a single term in economy till now. Can i understand those difficult terms and concepts. Can u tell me any book that explains basic economy terms and concepts so that i cant first get a minimum grasp on this subject.

frnd , very helpfull website really great!! lazylord i am started with ncert economy and than move to tmh(ramesh singh) and than to eco survey in 2014. is it ok about all economy for GS. thanks please reply frnd

Through this site am getting clear idea about ias preparation thank u so much and i have one doubt u mentioned some important topics of economy in 2013 is it useful for 2015 preparation or is there any modifications plz suggest me which topics has to be cover and one more thing am purchasing books what u recommended i hope it is enough for both prelims and mains i hope i will get reply soon

dear sir, can you please send me the same discount coupon to my mail as well, thanks. sir, i never studied even a single term in economy till now. can you tell me any book who explains basic economy terms and concepts. thanks…!